Bear with me - this post appears to have nothing to do with knitting, but it'll all come together at the end. I promise!
So, I work in IT. Sort of. I work in Business Intelligence, which is a fancy way to say "reports and other cool ways to retrieve and use data in a way that's relevant to X", whatever your X may be. I've decided that this isn't nerdy enough for me, or at least, what I'm currently doing isn't nerdy enough. So, I've been researching all sorts of different things from which programming language should be the first I learn (besides SQL which I don't really consider "programming" (but maybe I'm being too pedantic? I do that sometimes...)), to the different TYPES of languages (called "paradigms"), to deciding that I need to go back to school for a Master's degree in either electrical or computer engineering (I don't currently have the math or science background to support this; my degree was from a business college). That brought me around to looking at what's currently available on Coursera - if you haven't heard of it, SHAME ON YOU! Errr, I mean, go check it out. They offer tons and tons and tons of free classes on all sorts of subjects. If you want to shell out some bucks, you can even earn a certificate of completion at the end, and some of their "tracks" include a capstone project using the skills you've learned during the track. I can see the project being a great thing to have to show potential employers a demonstration of your abilities; I'm less certain the certificate will mean anything to employers (yet).
ANYWAY.
So I'm still undecided on the whole language thing, and the whole engineering thing, but what I DID do this morning is sign up for Calculus 2. Yes, that's right. Calculus 2. Eighteen year old me, DID YOU HEAR THAT? WE LIKE MATH. So, yes, I'm going through the first week's materials and the (free) (pdf) textbook, learning the basics of series and sequences, and it strikes me:
I HAVE TO INCORPORATE CALCULUS INTO MY KNITTING IN A CLEVER WAY.
But how?
Clearly, I need to learn more about Calculus and how to apply it. Back to the books, then!